Warren Buffett Still Doesn’t Get What Bitcoin Is

Billionaire investor and philanthropist, Warren Buffett, has never had much in the way of positive remarks for bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Buffett, who has called bitcoin a fraud and a bubble, has made yet another critical remark about cryptocurrencies, this time saying at a press conference ahead of Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholders that bitcoin was a “seashell that just sits there.”

CNBC first reported Buffett’s statement, which was as critical as it has been in the past. Buffett said that Bitcoin was linked to frauds and that it produced no value,

It’s a gambling device… there’s been a lot of frauds connected with it. There’s been disappearances, so there’s a lot lost on it. Bitcoin hasn’t produced anything. It doesn’t do anything. It just sits there. It’s like a seashell or something, and that is not an investment to me.

Buffett then goes on to compare it to a button, saying that if he offered someone a button for $1000, and hoped that it would be worth $2000 by the end of the day, the button still possesses only use,

I’ll tear off a button here. What I’ll have here is a little token…I’ll offer it to you for $1000, and I’ll see if I can get the price up to $2000 by the end of the day… But the button has one use and it’s a very limited use.

Buffett has previously called Bitcoin “rat poison” and a “delusion” and it’s clear that he does not see much in the market. However, he did say that he may indirectly get involved with blockchain technology,

We are probably doing it indirectly, but no, I wouldn’t be the person to be a big leader in blockchain.